Testimony Tuesday- Faith

First of all. I'm fully aware that's it's Wednesday, although, the days are starting to run together.

I was trying to decide what to write about this week but every single thing I came up with was "blah, I hate that." or "ugh. I not this week." and THEN I saw that a couple of my blogger friends are starting a blog series called "Testimony Tuesday", where on the first Tuesday of every month, they write about a given topic. All members of different faiths are invited to join this blog series, and you can find the post to link up to here. By the time I actually decided that I wanted to join, it was too late for me to write on Tuesday, so here's my Testimony Tuesday one day late. For the record. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. and you can learn more about my worldwide, 16 million member church, here.

This months topic is: Faith

I'm a big believer that music is one of my greatest teachers. There is a children's song sung in our church with the simple title of "Faith" It reads as thus:
1. Faith is knowing the sun will rise, lighting each new day.
Faith is knowing the Lord will hear, my prayers each time I pray.
Faith is like a little seed: If planted, it will grow.
Faith is a swelling within my heart.
When I do right, I know.

2. Faith is knowing I lived with God before my mortal birth.
Faith is knowing I can return when my life ends on earth.
Faith is trust in God above; In Christ, who showed the way.
Faith is strengthened; I feel it grow, whenever I obey.

This goes along with Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Here we find the basic concept of faith. Faith is a knowledge of things that you cannot see but that you know to be true. Just as when the sun sets in the evening, we have know definite knowledge that the sun will rise again the next morning, but we believe that it will.

In the Book of Mormon, as well as the Bible, we compare faith to a seed. In Matthew 17:20 (KJV) Jesus says "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

Faith is an incredible source of power. It gives us the power to move mountains if we believe that we can. It gives us power and strength to endure impossible trials that we would be unable to handle if we had no belief that there was a purpose to it and that it would be for our good. There is an OLD one woman show by Steven Kapp Perry called "Polly" and in one of the songs she says:

"Could you celebrate a birthday knowing life would soon be past you? Could you spend the sweat to build a house you knew would not outlast you? Could you bear to love the children, who would die before their season? We'd miss so much of happiness and maybe that's the reason not to know! To free us from the burden of the future, and make a space for joy!"

So that's the answer isn't it? Faith in God and Faith in His Plan allows us to have a fullness of joy in our lives. That one day, we will be free from our pains and afflictions. That even now, as we go through them, we are never alone. I love the peace that my faith brings to me and I love knowing that with that faith, comes a perfect brightness of hope.

~Cheryl